Photo: SpokaneWilly · CC BY-SA 4.0At 8.6%, unemployment in Mead is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 25 minutes; Washington averages 27, the U.S. 26. The two grades for Mead are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 3% work in Mead; the top destination outside it is Spokane (42%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Mead at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Mead’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mead is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #209 of 285 in Washington. The poverty rate holds Mead’s grade up (7.4%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mead could be anywhere from C to B.
Out of Mead to work: where people go
Where Mead clocks in
42% of workers
15% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The daily flow of workers through Mead
On a workday 3,030 residents head out to work, 89 work right here, and 1,178 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Mead on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 1,267 jobs in Mead are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mead, 2013 → 2023: 1,140 → 1,267. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Mead: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mead workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,451 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Mead commutes less than 9 miles
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Mead walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mead is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns, #212 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Mead near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,847 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.1% of Mead households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Mead’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,041st of 3,229: where Mead ranks among U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 209 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 240 | Orting WA | 8,884 | $133K | 2.4% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,039 | Hempstead TX | 7,194 | $60K | 22.6% | 2.4% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,040 | German Township OH | 7,579 | $74K | 8.0% | 8.7% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,041 | Mead WA | 6,893 | $77K | 7.4% | 8.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,042 | Prairie Grove AR | 8,998 | $71K | 15.2% | 3.0% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,043 | Posen IL | 5,405 | $73K | 21.5% | 6.1% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Mead, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Mead: questions
What is the median household income in Mead?
$77,045 (±$7,273) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mead?
7.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mead?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mead work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spokane (42%, 9 mi), Spokane Valley (15%, 10 mi), Seattle (2%, 233 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mead walkable?
Mead is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mead without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mead
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.